It is known to provide portable equipment to be used by telephone company technicians in trouble-shooting telephone lines on which trouble is reported. It is also known to use microcomputer technology, including a keypad-responsive processor and a processor-controlled display, to aid the technician in using line-test equipment and as an interface for outputting information from the line-test equipment.
An example of portable line-test equipment which employs microcomputer technology for input and output is the CMC 7910DX DataStar 386 terminal and test module (hereinafter “DataStar 386”), sold by Communications Manufacturing Co., Los Angeles, Calif. The “Generic User's Manual” for the DataStar 386, published by Communications Manufacturing Co., is incorporated herein by reference.
It is an object of the invention to provide a portable telephone line test device that is easier to use than prior art devices.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a telephone line test device which automatically carries out a standardized sequence of tests.
It is still a further object of the invention to provide a telephone line test device which interprets results of tests performed by the device and automatically diagnoses sources of line troubles on the basis of the test results.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a telephone line test device which displays interpretive messages and instructions to the user.